Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2022 16:42:35 -0500 From: Fang Saito Subject: Cadence - Chapter 4 This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any real people or places is purely coincidental. This story is the property of the author and is protected under copyright laws. The author retains all rights. No reproduction is allowed without the author's consent. Conversations and feedback are appreciated to Greyson B. via email at hokkaidohotel86it@gmail.com. The emails I have received thus far are greatly appreciated. If you enjoy this story, please support the Nifty archives today with a thoughtful donation by visiting https://donate.nifty.org/. This story will contain graphic depictions of sex between males of teen and adult ages (M/m, m/m). If this is an issue for you or the laws where you live, you are obviously in the wrong place. Also, this is a story with plot, not merely wank material. You have been warned. Cadence Part 4 Cade awoke the next morning somewhat stiff from sleeping in the same position all night. Duncan had kept him spooned against him the whole night through, Duncan's arm wrapped around his chest. The first thing he noticed after feeling how hard his own morning piss-wood felt, was Duncan's hard-on digging into his ass cheek. Cade carefully climbed out of his embrace, and felt a tenderness in his ribs where he had been laying on Duncan's curled arm overnight. Cade put his underwear back on, grabbed up his discarded clothes, and quietly exited the room. As he was relieving himself at the toilet, Cade took stock of his throat. Not too bad, he thought, considering the beating it took the night before. Cade thought it should be fine by the afternoon. After grabbing a quick shower, Cade headed to his room to get dressed. As he was untangling yesterday's clothes to toss in the hamper, Cade saw how stretched the neck of his tshirt was from being wrapped around his hands so tightly. Fuck, that pissed him off. He really liked this shirt. It was fun and unusual, and he didn't have money for clothes like that anymore. Maybe the material would straighten out in the wash. He also retrieved the money Duncan had given him the night before, and added it to his wallet. Cade cooked breakfast for the three of them, using pretty much the last of their groceries. While eating, Duncan casually mentioned that he would be back again that night and would bring dinner. "How about McDonald's and grocery shopping instead?" Cade countered. "McDonald's? Really?" he asked. Duncan was obviously not impressed with this suggestion, but then he saw the giddy sparkle in Jordan's eyes and relented. "Alright, McDonald's it is. You guys be ready to go at seven, and I'll come pick you up." Once he finished eating, Cade sent Jordan to get his book bag together, and said quietly, "Thanks, Duncan. I'll make it up to you tonight." "Oh, I'm sure you will," Duncan responded, grinning. He squeezed his hand inside the back of Cade's jeans, running his finger down the crack of his ass as he spoke. " I want a piece of this tonight, so be ready." Cade shuddered inside at Duncan's comment, but smiled up at him and said, "Yeah, you know you can't get enough of me!" Cade winked at him as he left the room, then as soon as he turned the corner, his face went instantly to neutral as he rushed to the bathroom to frustratingly rearrange his underwear and pants from where Duncan's hand had twisted the material around. Cade thought about Duncan on the way to school. It was a fucked up situation, to be sure, but a necessary evil. It was either Duncan, or lose Jordan. Two years prior, their mom died of cervical cancer. There was no dad that they knew of, no grandparents, no aunts and uncles. A year before her death, Cade and Jordan shared a stint in foster care while their mother was in the hospital getting an initial treatment, and it quickly became clear that the system was not going to let him and his brother stay together. Supposedly there was nobody in their entire area willing to take in two boys at once. Cade talked it over with Jordan the best his little brother could understand, and then started brainstorming options. He had time, and he had determination. It took some time and effort, but Cade finally found Duncan through an online gay dating site. They came to an arrangement. Duncan got all the sex Cade could handle, and in exchange, Duncan became their "uncle", giving them a legal guardian and someone willing to pay the monthly bills. Fortunately their mother had kept a mortgage insurance policy that paid for the house, and her will stipulated that the house was in Cade's name, even if he couldn't do anything with it until he was 18. Duncan even lived with them for a few months at first, before he got tired of the responsibility, and Cade got tired of the 24/7 treatment. So now it was more about the business arrangement. At Cade's insistence they hadn't told Jordan all the intimate details, although Cade did have to threaten Duncan with serious bodily harm once when the man hinted that it might be fun to bring his little brother into the mix. Cade warned him that if he ever got sexy with Jordan, that was the day he woke up a eunuch, Social Services and jail be damned. The whole POINT of this was to protect Jordan, to keep him safe. Four months involved in the system let Cade know exactly what kind of hell it would have been for him. Cade arrived at school and started through his day. It was during second period Social Studies that he got called down to the Guidance Counselor's office. "Shit. What did I do?" he thought to himself. His arms were a little numb as he walked down the halls. This could be bad. Cade always lived with the dread in the back of his mind of someone finding out. Outwardly he was calm as he checked in with the office secretary and took a seat, but inside Cade was working hard to keep his heart out of his throat. By the time he was finally called back he had relaxed a bit. Deal with reality, not fear, right? Wasn't that what his mother had always said, especially in those last months? The counselor was older, not quite grandfatherly but close. He lead Cade back down a tiny hallway, to an even tinier office. The office had barely enough room for his school issued desk, school issued book shelf, and two school issued chairs facing the desk with its school issued name placard poised at the corner next to a business card holder and several pamphlet holders. On the far end of his desk was a stack of manila folders, some stuffed full and some pathetically thin. One such folder lay open across the thick calendar on his desk, the tab on the side sporting a new, white sticker with "Dylan, Caden" written in thick, black sharpie. There it was, Cade's academic life summed up in black and white. It looked like a fairly short stack of papers atop the open folder. After all, how much could be in there for a student who made it through all of elementary and middle school without ever seeing the principal or ever earning a detention? Cade sat down as directed and waited nervously to see what this might be about. The counselor flipped though the papers, no more than a dozen pages, before pulling one to the top and addressing the boy across from him. "So, Caden. Or is it Cade?" "Cade, please." "Good to know," he said with a slight smile, scribbling a quick note down. "I'm Mr. Jordan, the Guidance Counselor here at Hawthorne High School. I'm sure you know, but let me assure you that this isn't you being called down to the Principal's office. You aren't in trouble or anything. Far from it." He tapped the paper he had located and continued. "I've looked over your transcripts from middle school, as well as your grades so far here, and am suitably impressed. Nothing but A's, and quite a few of your grades in the high end of the 90's." Cade relaxed and even smiled a bit, back on footing he understood. Educators loved their good grades, their good students. He waited to see where the conversation might go from there. "You seem to have a good grasp of your study habits, and your teacher's reports speak highly of you. I even see that you have begun AP classes and are poised for more next year. But I do have some questions for you, if you will indulge me?" He looked at Cade expectantly, and it took a moment to realize that he didn't mean it to be a rhetorical question. He nodded, and Mr. Jordan continued. "I am curious as to your motivations. Are your study habits coming from your parents? Have you thought about college? Do you already have career goals? What drives you to get the grades you achieve? Depending on what drives you might determine how I can help keep you up on top." Cade thought about what the counselor was saying, and what he thought the man might want to hear. Did he keep quiet? Did he give stock answers? Should he play the sympathy card? What was this guidance counselor hoping to hear, and what was he expecting? Cade hoped he wasn't looking at his small size and his grades, and taking him for a bookworm that was nothing but bully fodder. Cade caught that he mentioned parents, which meant he didn't have any of Cade's social services records, and hadn't noticed his legal guardian information. Did that mean he should skip over that, and hope it didn't come up at a future date? Or would that pique his interest if he sees it later, meaning Cade should deflect it now? No, he thought. Better to stick with safe and expected for now. After all, Cade knew how to spin bullshit and brown-nose teachers. After mentally composing his answer, Cade said, "I've always been able to keep up with the topics my teachers cover, so I decided a few years ago that I could go two routes. The first was what seems to be the popular route of slacking, doing the minimum, and conning the teachers. But the other way is to put just a little effort into it, actually do the homework, and get the appropriate grades." Cade watched the counselor's face as he followed what Cade was saying, obviously liking what he was hearing, then Cade continued. "I was raised on the expectations that a college degree is the new high school diploma as far as jobs are concerned. And college is expensive. So if a bit of homework and studying will pay for some college, then I would be stupid not to do what I can." Cade was pretty sure he surprised the counselor with his next point, but damn it, he had done his homework on where his future was going. "I know this school district offers advanced college credits for some of the higher AP work in Junior and Senior years. My goal is to get into those classes. Knock out some of the core intro classes here in high school while they're free. Shorten my time at college." "I'm impressed," Mr. Jordan responded. "You've really thought this through. So if you are pushing for college, what are your plans for extra-curricular activities?" Cade blinked, a little confused. "Huh?" Mr. Jordan smiled as he looked across the desk, and explained, "Colleges don't just look at grades. At least, the bigger ones. The ones offering full ride scholarships to bright students that are pushing to get a top education while cutting costs. Your GPA is important, absolutely. But so is your full portfolio." He flipped though the papers in Cade's file. "You haven't gone out for any sports, or joined any clubs your freshman year here at Hawthorne. Are you involved in anything outside of school? Church groups? Boy Scouts? 4H?" Sitting there blank faced for a moment, Cade was a bit lost. He hadn't seen this coming, but now realized he was probably right. Cade's time was spent on school, Jordan, and Duncan. Otherwise he had some friends he did things with. But sports? Clubs? Just, why? "Sorry, not really. Is that bad?" "Well," Mr. Jordan answered, "That's why I wanted to get you in here. I'm sure you would be disappointed if you got to your Senior year, applying for schools, and only then did these questions get asked." Mr. Jordan looked him over, then asked, "Where are your interests? Do you have any sports that interest you, like soccer or tennis?" Cade shook his head, trying to picture himself running around for some else's pleasure. "What about academic clubs? The school paper? Yearbook? Debate? Math clubs?" Again Cade shook his head, this time explaining, "I put my academics into grades and homework. Just because I am good at it doesn't mean I find it fun." "Hmm. Well then I guess we both have some homework, don't we? We need to find you some extra-curricular activities for your resume. Something that we can both live with. I want you to be able to maximize your plans, okay?" Cade nodded, then added, "I understand. Do you have any other advice for me?" Adults loved it when respectful kids asked for their advice. Nothing wrong with extra brownie points. "Find something you can tolerate. Preferably something you are interested in. Check for programs with the local library. Perhaps check programs with other school districts or even other states. Even if it is something we don't currently have, there may be room for other extra-curricular clubs if there is enough interest." Mr. Jordan watched Cade for his reaction, and Cade showed him nothing but "genuine" interest. "Figure out what hobbies you already do, and see if there is a way to turn it into an organized group with like-minded students." "Yes, sir," Cade responded. The bell rang to dismiss the class period, but Cade waited to see if he was finished. This meeting had given him some things to think about. Some good, some bad. Cade was serious when he had stated his goals. He knew his college years were going to be seriously rough. Extra, high-end schooling, while trying to take care of Jordan while he was going through his own high school. And there would be zero resources to pay for school. Meaning either scholarships or student loans. Cade was determined to do whatever it took. So, clubs, huh? Fuck sports. He didn't have the energy for that. Or the money. Sports meant equipment, fees, all sorts of extra expenses. Honestly, none of the vapid school clubs sounded like they would be his speed. He decided he would have to think hard about where he could compromise on his time and attention. Mr. Jordan reached forward to hand him a paper. It was a photocopied paper folded into a pamphlet, titled "Extra-Curriculars", and had the school name, crest, and some school board details on the front panel. As Cade reached out to accept it, Mr. Jordan said, "Look over what we already offer, but be thinking about other club options as well. My card is in there as well. If you think of anything, or have any other questions, just make an appointment out in the office, or you can email or call me directly." He looked like he was wrapping things up, then added, " Did you have any questions for me, while you are here?" "No, sir," Cade responded. Mr. Jordan stood up to see Cade out. "Kept you a bit over," he said, "So tell them at the office desk that I said to give you a hall pass to get you to your next class. What do you have next?" "Algebra," Cade responded. "And thanks for the attention, Mr. Jordan." See? Brownie points and sucking up.